News & Updates:

Like the website?
Recommend Us To a Friend

The Nature of Problems - Part 15

If something is unnecessary in a problem situation, do the opposite of grouping, try removing it entirely and see what the results will be. (Many types of machines have been greatly im­proved as the result of taking things away from them instead of adding more!)

Frequently, if all your possibilities turn out unfavorable and your problem remains unsolved, you may be able to change the problem itself. This proved to be the solution to the problem of eliminating printing ink from newsprint and other paper in re­claiming operations. No solvent could be found that would get the ink out of the paper once it had been printed. So they changed the ink formulas.

One of the key factors in how well and how quickly an indi­vidual can point up, simplify, and solve any problem will be his own attitude toward problems. If, through our attitudes, we approach every minor problem as a major crisis inflicted upon us by nature, other people, and the misfortunes of circumstance, we will not be nearly so effective in solving problems as will someone who is more realistic and realizes that problems are a part of living. We make them ourselves, and if we don't like a particular set of problems, we can always get away from them. (No company owns a man—no one can force you to keep a particular job you dislike!) And when we can take the more detached view of problems, solving them becomes more fun—it can actually be­come a game of skill or wits to see just how fast you can lick any particular problem. Then any minor setbacks or complications you meet—not enough time or not enough money—become just factors of the problem, more cards in the decks, or the particular position of your problem-opponent's checkers on the boards.

It may help you to remember that, as Napoleon Hill said, "A man is only as big as the circumstances he allows to worry him." Your whole approach to life, to living, and your job will depend on how positively you can face up to the problems you have selected to make your own. And if you feel that you shouldn't have problems, that you shouldn't have to face them, then the chances are you should trade in your present job for a South Sea Island beach where you can pick food off the trees and sit in the sun. It is still possible to find such spots, where no one has to work, and no one has any particular problems. But if you elect to stay in civilization and continue with your present job, the choice is yours. It is not being forced upon you. The problems you meet go with the choice. They are not being forced upon you either. Therefore, why fight problems? It makes much more sense to conserve your energy for the game and chase of finding solutions!

Related terms include business strategies and business objectives.